I dread preparing hard-boiled eggs, but there’s nothing I love better than eating them. Who can pass up deviled eggs, a great egg salad, or a crispy green salad topped with chopped eggs?
Why do I hate making hard-boiled eggs? Because it’s a pain in the fanny to drop the eggs in boiling water, and a bigger pain to remove them from the hot pan. I manage to burn my fingers every time, and even with the help of a slotted spoon, I end up dropping at least one egg before it reaches it’s destination.
Besides being accident-prone, I’m a bit of a consumer freak. I do massive research with just about every buy, because no one has made more purchasing errors. I’ve been reading up on the perfect tool to help me with this life-long annoyance, so a few days ago I came across an article from Cook’s Illustrated about testing steamer baskets. I’ve never owned one! My idea of steaming veggies is sticking them in the microwave for a few minutes. It never occurred to me that a steamer basket is not just for veggies, but is also the IDEAL device to solve the boiled egg hassle.
Place the eggs in the steamer basket and drop into hot or cold water. When the cooking time is complete, stick a fork in the handle’s slot and remove. And that’s all, folks. For instructions on cooking the perfect hard-boiled egg, click here. Â Their top pick: OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Steamer with Extendable Handle. I jumped on Amazon and bought it for 20 bucks. So many things I love about this steamer! With 63.6 square inches of usable space it allows for cooking large batches of food. Best of all, the telescoping center handle extends to 4 inches when it’s time to remove the steamer, and collapses down to 2 1/2 inches so it won’t interfere with the lid of your pan.
The sturdy handle has a hole for inserting a fork, keeping your hands away from steam. It fits pots with diameters of 8 inches and up including pressure cookers, and I love that it’s collapsible – makes for compact storage. Well worth the 20 dollar investment!
